ReMix:Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest "Monsoon in the Concrete Jungle" 4:28

Awesome mix, here. You would have thought that, after the amazing number of DKC2 mixes that Serious Monkey Business birthed, we'd be sated or otherwise less inclined for more, but it's one of the truly great OSTs, as some superb non-album mixes that have followed since have further proven. Now cometh Joren, otherwise known in "abrasive IRC persona mode" as Tensei, with Xenon Odyssey on sax and melody w/ a piano assist:

"This is a disco style remix of two of the songs from DKC 2. Genrewise, this is completely uncharted territory for me, but I'm satisfied with the way it turned out, so I hope you are too. The inspiration for this probably comes from listening to too much virt, Jamiroquai and Joshua Morse (If you stare into the Abyss long enough...etc, etc). It's a bit on the liberal side of things so I'll provide a source breakdown. Xenon Odyssey provided some much needed live sax playing which really adds another dimension to the mix, so he's credited as a collaborator. Special shoutout goes to melody for providing me with a live, humanized version of the lead piano melody (heh) in the first minute.

Chord progression is completely original unless I somehow managed to rip it off subconsciously.

00:00 - 00:18 Original
00:18 - 00:34 Modified version of the Forest Interlude synth ostinato
00:35 - 00:51 Somewhat verbatim version of Forest Interlude lead melody with embellishments
00:53 - 01:08 Forest Interlude ostinato pretty much verbatim.
01:09 - 01:50 Original, though maybe some allusions to the source in the synth lead.
01:50 - 02:30 Stickerbrush Symphony ostinato + lead.
02:31 - 03:05~ Forest Interlude lead + ostinato.

Rest is original soloing though there's allusions to the source in the sax solo. It doesn't come out to an exact 50% but I'd feel like a kitten murderer if I had to fade the soloing section out earlier/faster (the fadeout itself takes a good thirty seconds). So please, think of the kittens."

Oh, we do... to paraphrase the now beyond-trite Jerry Maguireism: you had me at "virt, Jamiroquai, and Joshua Morse" - hell, any one of the three, really. You gon' be droppin' names like dat, you can't bring flaccid beats or limp hooks to the table, and thankfully Joren turns in his funkiest, most accessible arrangement yet. It IS a party, it IS a disco, and it IS some very musical foolin' around; Xenon adds:

"When I first heard Tensei's mix, everything was gravy 'til that sax sample came in. After hearing how much the sax played, I was all like 'Pffft, I could do that,' and that's EXACTLY how that shizz went down."

Good to know; sax parts being clearly live adds immediacy & character, definitely enhancing the mix. Police sirens jive with the mix title, which I dig, and while it's a liberal arrangement there's almost always some tendons connected back to the skeleton of Wise's original. OA writes:

"Nice arrangement, very classy, and the breakdown was very appreciated. Solid production, a good room sound, and everything was clicking for me as far as balance. Percussion, bass, and the leads were all very well done, with good sequencing. The sax was a little flat on a few notes, but not enough to bring down the track at all, and the playing was otherwise very good, with nice tone and good articulation. Not much else to say, this is really nice."

While disco may be the umbrella genre, there's a fair smattering of funk, jazz, and Latin components that fill things out, and while I'm not 110% on the fade/record-scratch transition circa 3'08", it segues into some badass soloing (synth AND piano) that vindicate thoroughly. My advice to Joren? Keep staring into this abyss, please... It is funky, fresh, and has resulted in perhaps your best mix yet; great stuff.